Daily encouragement in your Christian walk until, as the Apostle Paul writes,"Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19, NIV).

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Are you Martha, Martha, Martha?

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke 1:1-4

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things.” Luke 10:40-41

Martha, Martha, Martha wanted to make sure that everything was done just right. She was so busy with the preparations, she couldn’t focus on spending time with Jesus. Now, my suspicion is that Martha wanted to be in the room with Jesus, but she couldn’t let herself sit down until all of the work was done. If Mary would just come in and help, the work would be done, then Martha could relax.

Luke was a physician. Even though Mark and Matthew had already written their Gospels, Luke set out to research everything for himself to “write an orderly account.” He also wrote The Acts of the Apostles as volume two.

I refer to this personality as the Planner. The Planner’s motto is “a place for everything and everything in its place.” If your garage is immaculate or you have labels on drawers and cabinets describing what’s in them, you are a Planner.

Planners thrive on details. Where the Producer can say, “It’s good enough” and the Promoter can say, “Whatever, let’s have fun,” the Planner makes sure everything is done with excellence.

To encourage a Planner, mention specific things about what they’ve accomplished. Rather than saying “good job.” Say something like “I really like the way that you took special care in making sure that the colors matched or everything was organized so well down to the alphabetized name tags.”

The downside of the Planner personality is that they can tend to be negative and critical. Since they are striving for excellence, things that are less than excellent stick out like a sore thumb to them. This doesn’t give them permission to exercise some spiritual gift of criticism (there’s no such thing). Planners need to be cautious in looking at the world as if it’s a glass half empty.

Planners like a great deal of detail. While Promoters want stories and Producers want the bottom line, Planners want all of the information. In fact, when I teach about personality types, I usually have a packet of information that I give out at the end of the class to all of the Planners because I know that I didn’t cover things thoroughly enough for them.

If you have a Planner in your life, be eager to build them up. Be very cautious about criticizing them. They are critical enough of themselves already.

Who’s the Planner in your life? Take notice of the special care that they have put into what they have accomplished. Appreciate them specifically.